Debub Omo Zone

South Omo Zone is a zone in the Ethiopian Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR). South Omo is bordered on the south by Kenya, on the southwest by the South Sudan, on the west by Bench Maji, on the northwest by Keffa, on the north by Konta, Gamo Gofa and Basketo, on the northeast by Dirashe and Konso, and on the east by the Oromia Region. The administrative center of South Omo is Jinka. Overview This zone is named for the Omo River, a river that flows south into Lake Turkana on the western side. Mago National Park and Tama Wildlife Reserve are located at the eastern bank of Omo river. There is Lake Chew Bahir surrounded by Stephanie Wildlife Sanctuary located at the eastern border of this zone. Notable high points include Mount Smith (2560 meters) and Mount Mago (2538 meters). West of the Omo is the most sparsely populated part of Ethiopia, inhabited by nomadic and semi-nomadic ethnic groups. A 1996 report described the infrastructure of the Zone as "weak and for the most part non-existent; this is a disadvantage inherited from historical neglect of a typical marginal region." It also observed that the South Omo Zone "one of Ethiopian's socially most diverse zones. It contains a minimum of 12 different ethnic groups, and possibly as many as 21. Social diversity therefore compounds the existing problems of isolation, acute shortage of basic infrastructure as well as scarcity of professional and technical man-power." South Omo has 462 kilometers of all-weather roads and 412 kilometers of dry-weather roads, for an average road density of 37 kilometers per 1000 square kilometers. According to the Central Statistical Agency (CSA) 1,364 tons of coffee were produced in South Omo in the year ending in 2005, representing 1.36% of the SNNPR's output and 0.6% of Ethiopia's total output. Demographics Based on the 2007 Census conducted by the CSA, this Zone has a total population of 573,435, of whom 286,607 are men and 286,828 women; with an area of 21,055.92 square kilometers, South Omo has a population density of 27.23. While 43,203 or 7.53% are urban inhabitants, a further 25,518 or 4.45% are pastoralists. A total of 125,388 households were counted in this Zone, which results in an average of 4.57 persons to a household, and 121,309 housing units.